What was that?
by Gettinitallandthensome
Summary: That thank you was just a thank you and the way his heart kept beating was absolutely nothing.


**A/N:** based off a picture by the lovely octoburp on tumblr. the link will be on my profile (:

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Cram school.

_Cram school._

**_Cram school._**

Why the hell was cram school so boring?

Aoba was spinning the pencil in his hand when he suddenly got whacked in the head with what felt like a notebook.

"Hey! What the hell Koujaku?!"

"You were looking out the window again. And I needed help with correcting this sentence. You're good with english right?" he all but sang. How someone could be so good at a subject but still manage to be failing the class was something Koujaku never failed to tease Aoba about.

"Just for that, I'm not helping you" he fired back. Aoba didn't want to be here. But he really had no one else to blame except himself with this. If he had just done his assignments and slept more rather than be out half the night he'd probably have an 'A' in that class. Or at least a 'B', who knows. He could be at home already, playing with Ren. Or better yet, at Haga-san's shop working a shift. A bunch of junk parts and those kids from the neighborhood seemed a lot more fun than english right about now. He needed to escape.

"Aw, come on don't be like tha- wait, you're leaving already?" Koujaku asked. Aoba was already putting away his textbook and papers as his friend continued talking.

"You really should stay."

"Don't want to. See you at school on Monday!" Aoba yelled over his shoulder. He could hear Koujaku call out his name as he ran out the room. Served him right for teasing him like that, now he needed to do the essay on his own, hmph.

Aoba took out his headphones as he continued walking down the hall. There were a few people waiting outside when he exited, some waiting for a friend he figured.

The air outside started picking up as he walked home. It tossed his hair around his face, leaving his cheeks stinging a bit and the scarf doing nothing to warm him up.

Why it was so cold for this time of year was strange. Wasn't it supposed to be close to summer? Aoba hoped breathing into his hands would help a little. The last thing he needed was to catch a cold of all things.

He was passing the little shops down the main street when he suddenly heard a commotion. It sounded like it was coming from inside one of the stores, but as he got closer, he realized it was the alley next to it. Hm, must be a fight or somethin-

"Ah, but I have to walk down this alley to get home!" he groaned. So he wouldn't catch a cold but he would probably get his ass kicked tonight. How lovely.

"Better just go" he sighed. It wasn't that he was scared, just the thought of having to fight his way through didn't sound fun at all. And showing up at home with cuts on his face would scare Granny. He didn't want to have to worry her too.

Wrapping up his headphones again, Aoba slowed down the closer he got to the entrance to the alley. Some clanging that sounded close to trash cans being thrown around could be heard.

"You better stay put there too bastard."

That voice sounded familiar.

"That's not harsh enough. I don't think he learned his lesson."

…That one did too.

"Me and Tori are leaving."

Crap, that name _definitely _sounded familiar. And it wasn't good if he was correct on who it was.

Aoba heard more wheezing; some footsteps could be heard approaching. He looked around frantically for a place to sit casually, maybe hide before those two would see him. The only closest thing to casual was the bench in front of one of the stores he realized. Quickly taking a seat, he pulled his hood up, pretending to be on his phone as the two walked by.

Aoba could hear something about smoking later on when their voices began to fade. The farther they walked away, the more antsy he got about looking up. He also noticed he was holding his breathe for some reason.

_Why am I holding my breathe?_

"Shit" he breathed out when their voices were nothing more than a whisper. Those two, the smoking tid bit he heard confirmed that it was that Mink and Tori. Mink and Tori from school.

They were always getting into trouble it seemed whenever Aoba heard their name. It was always _Mink and Tori did this _or _Mink and Tori did that._

There had been a huge rumor going on weeks earlier about them putting someone into the hospital actually. No one sounded like they knew if it was true or not but it was still enough for talk to get around to the teachers. They had been suspended 2 days after that.

But other than that what kind of trouble could they get into really? The rumor hadn't been confirmed and both of them kept away from everybody at school, not much for words either. Unless it was stealing, Aoba couldn't see why people made such a huge fuss about them. He just kept away since it seemed they didn't like company.

Also, they were huge. They'd probably beat anyone against them to a pulp. _Had_ beat someone to a pulp it sounded like from the wheezes he heard earlier.

Looking around one final time, Aoba saw no one. The sounds that had been coming from the alley earlier could be heard no more either. It was probably safe to go through now.

Lifting his bag again, Aoba got up and made his way to the alley. The lack of light made his phone screen shine brighter in the dark space. He was about to text Koujaku what had just happened when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, someone pushing him against the wall.

"Stop jackass!" The sudden attack had caught Aoba off guard. The only thing he had managed was to wrap his hands around someones neck. This someone was grabbing at his hood and the phone in his hand. Like hell he was going to get his stuff stolen!

"Let.** Go!"** He tried punching the person but the movement made Aoba stumble, allowing the phone in his hand to get snatched easily. The text message he was in the middle of sending become a bunch of random letters.

Aoba couldn't breathe from how hard he had been struggling. This had quickly escalated from a normal fight into him fighting for his life. He was going to die wasn't he. He was going to die and he wouldn't be able to eat Granny's doughnuts no more or fall asleep in class no more and Koujaku still had his video game-!

"That light is bright idiot!" The someone in front of him was holding the screen of the phone right in front of his face. Or maybe the light was heaven.

Aoba would have thought it was if he hadn't heard the person click their tongue and mutter something before the phone was put into his hands again. The hands that had took the phone were now caging him in, both hands on either side of his head.

"…Seriously?" He should have known it was him. He was always around Mink and Tori lately too so had Aoba forgot about him. The piercings that shined under the light made it easy to distinguish who it was too. That stupid smirk on the person's face made it more infuriating.

"Can I go now Noiz?"

"You can at least say thank you for saving your life."

"Thank you?" Aoba incredulously asked. "For what? You almost scared me to death and You, Mink, and Tori kicked some guys ass in here. And you want me to thank _you_ for some reason? That's rude." Aoba shined the light around again. The poor guy who had been their punching bag earlier was laying by one of the trash cans across from them. The blood coming from his mouth looked painful.

There was a long silence, what felt like a freaking staring contest and some eye rolling before Noiz finally spoke up.

"That guy was harassing Tori."

"So you kicked his ass?"

Noiz didn't answer. That stare of his was getting annoying when Aoba asked the same question again.

"That's a yes then?"

He still didn't answer.

"Okay, whatever then He was harassing Tori, I really don't care. Can you let me go now?" There was no use in speaking to someone like this. Noiz clearly was not going to talk much. He never did at school anyways unless it was some kind of teasing. Aoba still didn't understand why he teased him so much. It was pretty odd.

"I still need a thank you."

"You want those doughnuts I brought last time? I'll share" Aoba replied. He stuck out his tongue, surprised to see Noiz look down at it.

"Mm, no this'll do."

"Huh? What will do-mmph!"

Aoba felt something soft against his lips. Too soft to be a punch to the face, though it left his heart beating harder than it would have if he _had_ been fighting. It felt kind of nice; he forgot they were still in an alley when Noiz pulled back.

He felt the cold air more now that his lips were wet. That kiss was sloppy and what the hell! Noiz has just kissed him!

"What was that?!"

"I don't know but I'm leaving. That was a nice thank you by the way." Though Noiz was walking away, Aoba could still hear that stupid smirk that was probably on his face right now.

He just kissed a guy. Or no actually, Noiz kissed him…

Did that mean he liked him?! The teasing would make sense but Aoba found himself liking it so did that mean he liked Noiz?!

The sudden ringing of his phone had him scream loudly before quickly answering it. Aoba could feel his face getting red. He was pretty thankful now for the cold, it felt nice against his cheeks.

"What was that message you send me, I didn't understand it."

"Uh, oh! I-it was n-nothing Koujaku. N-nothing."

Because it really was nothing. That thank you was just a thank you and the way his heart kept beating was absolutely _nothing_.

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**dmmd has taken over my life yeah especially noiz and aoba but i swear the new chapter to ialn will be out soon :D**

**- getty**


End file.
